1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to e-books and other digital content and in particular to transitioning from a sample of digital content to a full version of the content.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic books (e-books) have become commonplace in recent years. Users use electronic devices such as dedicated electronic readers (e-readers), tablet computers, and smart phones to read the e-books. In addition, users may use the same devices to consume other types of digital content. Oftentimes, a user's device maintains a library of digital content available to the user. For example, the device may maintain a library containing e-books, movies, and music. The user can select particular content from the library, such as a particular e-book, and then read or otherwise consume the content using the device.
Many content providers offer free samples of digital content to entice users to buy the full version of the content. For example, an e-book publisher may provide the first chapter or two of an e-book as a free sample so that users can be drawn into the story or other content. The users are provided with an option to buy the full version of the content so that a user who enjoys the sample can easily purchase the full version.
The approach described above has several drawbacks that may inconvenience users purchasing full versions of digital content and detract from the user's experience. For instance, the user may need to exit the content to purchase the full version. Thus, if a user is reading a free sample of an e-book and decides to purchase the full version of the book, the user may need to leave the text of the e-book to interact with the store. Additionally, the user's device may treat the full version of the digital content as separate from the sample version. As a result, the user's library may be cluttered with both the sample and the full versions after the purchase of the full version. The user may also need to manually open the full version of the content and navigate to the reading position where the user left off in the sample (i.e., to the end of the sample). The user may also need to wait to purchase the full version if the user's device has a slow or unreliable network connection to the online store.